The Continuum of Long-Term Care for Chronically Ill Elders

Home Care

1. May be preference for families from many ethnic backgrounds.
2. Cultural expectations for family care may put extreme stress on family members.

Day care, residential/assisted living, and nursing home care concerns

(Barresi & Stull, 1993; Kayser-Jones, 1996)

1. Ethnically appropriate food important for health and healing.
2. Symbolism such as images, color, clothing, décor, numbering, and furniture arrangement can be a source of comfort or discomfort (e.g. room numbers with “4” in them are considered unlucky by some Chinese families).
3. Monolingual non-English speaking elders can be very isolated.
4. Cultural celebrations, holidays, activities are important.
5. Cultural taboos need to be learned and respected.